Mr. Barwick and Pen and Sword publishers remind us of the brutality of the Imperial Japanese Army and state. I am from one of those far-flung places occupied by the 1940s Japanese Empire and this does the stories of tragedy and brutality as well as human endurance justice. Read this book.

a part of.the war that is not spoken about very often,so it was an interesting read. It's hard to imagine the imaginable torment that people suffered.

A story of survival in inhuman conditions when only luck determines the difference between life and death.

Written in 1946, the book 'In the Shadow of Death: The Story of a Medic on the Burma Railway 1942-1945' by Idris James Barwick is a riveting account of resilience and compassion. The author aimed to commemorate the comrades he lost during captivity and reveal atrocities that led to the unprecedented death toll. Out of 1,800 prisoners at Sonkurai camp, also called 'Horror Camp of the Thai Jungle,' only 250 survived. 'Only God knows what the dead had suffered, the torment of mind and body, the daily slavery, beatings and tortures by the Nips, and the fevers and diseases. <...> Those who survived are lucky if they retained health in body and mind, because the experience alone was enough to shatter one's health or reason.' It was one of many similar camps where British, Australian, and Dutch prisoners had to build a railway from scratch, with almost no modern instruments and under the constant threat of being beaten. Poor food, mainly rice - and the sick receiving half a portion - coupled with beriberi, malaria, smallpox, dysentery, cholera, diphtheria, ulcers, and septic scabies. People ate snakes, bamboo shoots, and frogs to supplement meager rations. The author's brief first aid course propelled him into the position of the Regimental Nursing Orderly before the surrender - and saved his life. While battling with fits of malaria and dysentery, Idris James Barwick was assigned to attend to the men, sicker than he was, so he avoided working on the railway construction. As an orderly, he made everything possible to ease his patients' pain and used his wit in substituting medical supplies with natural methods: leaves and clothes instead of bandages, tins as bedpans, maggots to clean the gangrenous ulcers.

Amidst this suffering, the imprisoned officers enjoyed a higher quality of living, with their own cookhouse, medicine, and assigned orderlies in case of illness. 'Every man for himself' became their principle of survival.

There is a considerable gap between the year when the book was written and the publication year (2006). Unintentionally, the author offers an alternative version to the popular memoirs of today. The book does not contain features that are considered essential for modern-day spoilt readers. There are no dialogues and no fiction techniques such as florid comparisons or striking metaphors. The author goes straight along memory lane, with no referrals to the past before 1942 but with the hindsight of a survivor. Still, the book is a page-turner, owing partly to the horrors depicted on its pages, partly to the author's engaging style.

I recommend the book for history and memoir lovers. The cover hides stories of human tragedies and human kindness, making the book an unforgettable read.

I received an advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

What Idris James Barwick endured as a POW in Burma in WWII is incomprehensible. I have read many, many Nonfiction books of this era but this is the most excruciating on the POW subject. The author wrote that he could not possibly record everything as conditions were so horrendous they would seem exaggerated. But it was so very real for many captured by the Japanese, all true. I cannot fathom even one of the days he survived at the hands of barbaric animals. But he is quick to recall kindnesses of comrades and a few villagers they happened to see. Importantly, he does not gloss over the horrors. In the Shadows of Death is harrowing, disturbing, riveting and heart crushing.

Idris Barwick in the Royal Army Service Corps was thrown into the job of driver and nursing orderly as he had had First Aid training. He felt ill qualified for the job but was given no choice. He did develop an interest in medicine, especially his phials and skin disorders. Not only did he and others survive endless meaningless marches from camp to camp (could have taken a train!) through insect-infested jungles with constant threat of relentless heat and humidity, snakes, scorpions, red ants, tarantulas and even tigers but had to contend with eating rice flavoured with a bit of jam and maggots for nearly all meals. This of course caused serious gastrointestinal issues such as dysentery as well as malnutrition. In a severely weakened state the prisoners also had to endure torture and discipline for the most minor "infractions". Barwick treated diptheria, cholera, wounds and cysts, gangrene, malaria and even beriberi.

Vivid multi-sensory descriptions are breathtakingly raw, gripping me the entire time. When liberation finally came, I had tears in my eyes. This is a very moving book, easy to get completely lost in. Human beings are capable of impossible evil as well as extreme compassion. Of course there is no good ending with a massive human toll.

Those intrigued by WWII who seek a different perspective, please do read this book. The information is astounding and the photographs fascinating, some haunting. The map in the front really helped as this is an area I am sadly unfamiliar with.

My sincere thank you to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for the honour of reading Mr. Barwick's account of his life as a POW, brutal but necessary. I am very grateful for these books. We need to learn and remember.

"Remember all the fine young men who died in far off lands and all the veterans who must live with their memories."


Ever since I found out my grandfather-in-law was a prisoner of war at the hands of the Japanese, I have had an interest in the subject. He would never speak about his experiences, bar a couple of stories, and having read this, I can understand why.

It is dreadful to think my grandfather-in-law was in a very similar situation as he was there at the fall of Singapore. The author describes a massacre in a hospital in Singapore in which my grandfather-in-law was a patient after being admitted with shrapnel injuries. He could quite easily have been a victim of that massacre and if he had, it's scary to think that my husband of 30 years wouldn't be here.

One thing that both surprised me and horrified me in equal measure was the conduct of the prisoner of war officers. I can't understand how many lived with their conscience after watching their comrades starving to death whilst they ate their fill or how they could inflict further punishments when they were already enduring so much. I wonder if any were reprimanded for their despicable behaviour?

If I have one little gripe is that I wanted to know what happened to some of the other people after the war; there are some but it would have rounded things up for me if some of the main prisoners and Japanese stories were updated.

This book is heart-breaking, horrific and hard to read at times. It is a real story of survival against the odds and a story of keeping your humanity and compassion in what was clearly pure hell. Many times his compassion and descriptions brought me to tears and saying to myself "how did anyone survive that?" The addition of pictures also helped bring Idris's words to life.

I defy anyone not to be moved by this book and it is one that I would recommend to anyone who has any interest in this part of the War.

My thanks must go to Pen & Sword Books and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

This was a tough book to read. I had to keep stopping to give my mind a rest fro.m it. The main reason was my dad was also captured in Singapore and was sent to work on the railway and was incarcerated in camp 2 the horror camp. Although I knew some of what happened my knowledge was limited as Dad never spoke much about it except snippets to my mum who passed it on to me.
This book made me realise my dad and all the men who suffered were true heroes in this war. We should never forget what this men suffered and how they fought for their lives at this terrible time. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.